Legends of Ninjago: Book 2: Rise of the Serpentine: Chapter 22 — Dare! Dare! Dare!

As Cole followed Ann through the woods, he could feel his heart thumping with exhilaration. Whether or not there would be consequences for his actions, he didn't care, just so long as Ann could get them both to safety. Most importantly of all, if they managed to get back to Wu, he might know of a way to undo the hypnosis. He was Cole's last hope at this point.

"Cole, where are you?"

Oh no.

Cole's throat felt like it was being strangled, and his consciousness was suddenly yanked back into his skull, chained before the big screen.

"COLE, I ORDER YOU TO TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE!!!" Scales barked. His voice was so loud it made Cole's ears ache.

Fighting back was useless. Cole knew he couldn't win. He heaved a hopeless sigh and let the hypnosis take over.

That stupid grin flashed across his face again and he said, "I'm out in the woods with Ann." His head hung low, ashamed.

"WHAT?! CAPTURE HER AND BRING HER BACK TO CAMP!!!" Scales sounded positively furious.

Cole couldn't bring himself to look up at the screen when the order was given. Instead, he curled himself into a tight ball and hid himself deep within the surrounding shadows, trying to tune out the sounds that his ears were picking up.

Water splashed erratically, and a wave of cold gripped his body, making him shiver. Then he heard Ann's voice scream into the night, and he knew that it was all over for both of them.

With his face still turned away from the screen, he said, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," said Ann.

She had responded? She had heard him? For one glorious moment, a spark of hope was lit, and he relished every word Ann spoke after.

"This isn't your fault," she continued.

As encouraging as those words were, Cole had to disagree. This was entirely his fault. He had let Kai go to the village that day, he had let himself get beaten by Scales in combat, and he had let Scales into his head. Who else could be at fault here besides him? Still, knowing that Ann didn't harbour any negative feelings toward him because of all of this did comfort him, if only a little.

Scales' voice cackled on the other side of the screen, congratulating him as if he were some sort of pet who had just brought back fresh game to its master, and Cole buried his face further in the darkness. Next, he was ordered to bring Ann back to camp where she was restrained once more, and Scales gave him some very specific instructions on dealing with "the prisoner.” The next time Ann attempted an escape, she'd have to knock him out, or just leave him. If there was a next time, that is.

The sun came up a few hours later, cold and bright, and the troop started moving again. Cole had gathered that Slithraa and Lloyd were planning something big, and that wherever they were going had something to do with it, but he was never within earshot when the two were discussing it, leaving him to speculate. Terrorism perhaps? It did seem to be Lloyd's signature brand of evil.

Two hours into the walk, however, the conversation took an unsettling turn. Cole only needed to hear Ann's name mentioned once for him to worry about her wellbeing.

“About time,” Scales muttered. “I mean—heh heh—I s-s-serve at your pleas-s-sure, Your Highnes-s-s.” When he turned to look at Cole, he could feel the snake's eyes on him, and braced for whatever Scales was about to ask of him. “Now then, what did allow me to enter your mind, young Cole? At the very firs-s-st, that is-s-s.”

The hypnosis forced Cole to flash back to the village and relive that moment, but his memory was blurry at best, and all he could see were those awful eyes. So, he went over the memory again. And again, and again, until he was sure that he hadn't missed anything.

"ANSWER ME," Scales mentally commanded.

“I don’t know,” he replied in a hollow voice. His heart relaxed a bit as the words left his mouth, and he prayed that he remained ignorant for as long as possible.

“Of cours-s-se the boy won’t know! He knows-s-s nothing of hypnos-s-sis-s-s!” Chief Slithraa bellowed, slamming his golden staff into the ground. “Try s-s-something more spec-c-cific. S-s-something he will unders-s-stand.”

“Very well,” Scales muttered. “Cole, do you have any mental weaknes-s-ses-s-s? Injuries-s-s? Birth defects-s-s? That s-s-sort of thing?”

Oh no.

There was no way he could spin this. No way he could tell a half-truth. There was only one answer he could give.

“Yes,” Cole said. “I hit my head. It hurt there when you entered.” He would rather gag himself with garlic than say that again.

“A head injury...” Slithraa mused.

“That just might explain it, S-s-sire,” Scales hissed. “But don’t get your hopes-s-s up too high, My Liege. Getting in was-s-s one obstacle, but gaining control is-s-s another.”

Gaining control? That snake! He had downright manipulated Cole and tormented him for goodness-knows-how-long, and it's just "an obstacle" to him? If he had control of any of his limbs right now, there'd be a nice, big bruise on the back of that overgrown salamander's head.

“Hmmm... well, I s-s-see no reas-s-son to pos-s-stpone this, especially given all the trouble this-s-s one’s-s-s causes-sed us-s-s,” the chief said, clearly referring to Ann. “Knock her out if you mus-s-st, but try not to kill her.”

No, no, no! This time, Cole did look up. He shot straight to his knees and watched as Scales grabbed one of the clubs from a nearby soldier, shouting in protest all the while.

"NO!!! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!!! LEAVE HER ALONE!!!" He pulled and yanked on the chains as hard as he could, begging over and over for mercy, but he knew they wouldn't break, and he knew that he couldn't protect Ann like he had promised.

When Scales landed the blow, Cole had to close his eyes. He had failed again, and Ann had payed the price.

* * *

Back within Ann's memories, she was staring at a strange, teal snake-man with a golden staff who seemed very smug and hoity-toity. For some reason, though, Ann could tell that something wasn't right about this. She remembered playing with Keaton, not this.

"Hello, there," the snake-man said.

"I'm warning you!" Ann said firmly, watching him slowly slither forward. "Stay back or I'll--I'll--"

"Oh, do tell. I'm curious-s-s," the snake said with an awful grin and a flick of his forked tongue.

Ann clenched her fists and shot out a burst of water. It flew as far as the courtyard stone and splattered at the snakes feet--or, tail, in this case.

He actually laughed. "That's-s-s s-s-so adorable!"

Now what could she do?! Wu! That's right! Go get help! She turned round and said, "Keaton, get Sensei--" but Keaton wasn't there. "Keaton?!" she shrieked, looking all around the courtyard frantically. She didn't even notice how close the snake-man was getting until he was right in front of her. "Ah!" she yelped and fell backwards onto her bottom. "Please don't hurt me!" she begged, covering her head.

The Serpentine slowly tilted his head to one side and blinked. What did he want with her? Did Lloyd bring him here? This was exactly why she didn't like him coming over and hanging out with her brother!

Wait... something about that sentence felt wrong. This... all of this... was in the past. She wasn't really eight years old, she was... she was...

"Interesting," Slithraa muttered as he moved toward the monastery door.

WACK!!!

Suddenly, the chief was reeling and rubbing the left side of his face. He looked up and saw Ann, fully grown and angry.

"Get. Out." she snarled.

The chief looked amused and tried to go for the door again, only for Ann to step in front of him.

"You are not welcome here!" she cried, and all of a sudden, everything changed. The monastery disappeared, the blue sky vanished, and was replaced with a glass atrium and walls that reached almost as high as the ceiling. Slithraa looked around and poked at the walls with intense interest. They were as firm as iron wood and stark white. Upon further inspection, he found a pathway that led to a four-way intersection and that's when it clicked: he was in a massive maze.

"I know you're here," Slithraa said in a sing-song voice. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

"Hey, Mr, you wanna play tag?" said a small Ann, maybe six or seven years old. She appeared out of thin air and stood down one of the corridors, staring at him.

"Sure," Slithraa replied uncertainly.

“You’re it!” she cried.

Then, little Ann took off running, leaving Slithraa to follow and easily make his way out of this labyrinth. Round and round each corner they went, taking one right after another, but little Ann didn't stop, so neither did the chief. Another right, another right, another right, and on and on and on it went for quite some time. Eventually, the chief figured out what was happening.

"AHH!! Darn you! You're taking me in circles!!" he swore. The little Ann just doubled over laughing. "Enough of that!" he growled, and marched up to her, swinging his staff. The image of Ann disappeared like mist when he tired to hit her, and he was left alone again.

Regaining his composure, he tried to find his bearings and began pressing forward, now slightly worse for wear.

The maze seemed endless, and every turn looked exactly the same. Chief Slithraa was slowly realising that he would need help if he wanted to get out.

"Yoohoo!"

He looked to his right, and down another hall, he saw a slightly older Ann, maybe nine years of age. She looked cheerful and possibly mischievous.

"Lost?" she asked. Slithraa didn't answer her this time. "Okay then, have fun being stuck in here forever and ever and ever!" She gave a quick laugh and then skipped down the next hall. The chief was reluctant to trust another potential trick, but he had no other options left, so he begrudgingly and carefully made his way over.

Little Ann didn't wait for him, and Slithraa soon found himself picking up speed as he tried to follow her.

"Slow down!" he cried at one point, and almost immediately after, he rounded a corner and felt the floor disappear beneath him. Luckily for him, his tail managed to keep him from falling, and as he pulled himself back up to the path, he stared down into a deep, dark, abyss—a bottomless hole intended for intruders. That little brat had tried to kick him out of her head! How rude! Next time, he wouldn't be duped so easily.

After finding his way again and shaking off the surprise of almost falling a thousand feet, he thought that he was making substantial progress with the maze. Maybe. This was by far some of the most complicated mental protection he had ever seen. Granted, he didn't exactly have a ton of experience since he was held captive in the Hypnobrai tomb all his life, but he still never would have dreamed that a mind could be this fortified.

After a few minutes, he heard a noise like a voice, and instantly bolted in the opposite direction. She wouldn't get him this time!

In the next corridor, though, right in front of him, he saw a thirteen-year-old Ann sitting and sobbing all by herself. His first instinct was to run, but he couldn't just pass up this golden opportunity. The conman in him won out, and he inched closer.

"My, my, what's wrong?" he crooned.

Ann sniffed and looked up at him. "Go away," she said, burring her face in her sleeves. "I don't wanna talk to anybody."

"But I'm not just anybody," the chief went on as delicately as possible. "I'm a friend." He held out his hand and eagerly waited for her to take it. She lifted one eye and looked him up and down for a moment, taking her sweet time with her final decision.

After an eternity of waiting, she finally lifted her own slender hand and placed it in his palm. Then she smiled.

She pulled Chief Slithraa forward with all her might and he found himself diving headfirst into a round, man-hole. Inside, there was an enormous tank full of water, ready and waiting to drown him. Ann had disappeared, and again, it was his tail that narrowly saved him. His staff, however, wasn't as lucky. It fell to its watery doom far below, and Slithraa watched as it sank to the bottom of the large tank.

That was it! No more! Not one! He wouldn't let this--this--charlatan get the better of him one more time!

With an excruciating amount of effort, he pulled himself out of the hole by his tail and regained his composer for a second time up in the hallway.

From this point on, whenever he heard a voice, or caught a glimpse of someone roaming the halls, he promptly ignored it and went in the opposite direction. There had to be something here he could use against Ann. After all, no person is without faults, he just needed to know where to look.

Suddenly, he thought he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Something dark and door-shaped.

“Looking for me?” said another Ann projection in the opposite direction. Slithraa looked from Ann then back to the dark object. He knew that she would try to trick him if he followed her, so that must mean whatever this dark thing was, must be something she didn’t want him to see.

He turned sharply in the direction of a black door hidden in a shadowy dead-end and slithered with lightning speed. Ann, as predicted, rushed after him. She was too late, though, as the chief had already laid a scaly hand on the door handle and pulled... but nothing happened. He tried again, but it remained shut. It was locked, he realised.

“Stay out of there!” Ann yelled, and she smacked him with her bo staff. A few well timed kicks and hits to the joints later, and Slithraa was on the ground, Ann standing over him. “I think you’ve over-stayed your welcome,” she said darkly.

Just as Slithraa was getting up, she struck him in the stomach with her staff and he started to fall backwards, breaking through the floor, and falling into darkness.

* * *

“Aaaah!” Ann gasped as she opened her eyes. The harsh, cold sun was shining down on her and there was a distinct smell of rain in the air. She wanted to rub her sore eyes, but her hands were still bound behind her back, so she blinked hard instead, seeing stars half the time.

“Your Grac-c-ce!” someone cried, and a crowd murmured in fear as they rushed to the aid of their chief. Slithraa was on the ground, moaning somewhat, and a dozen Serpentine (mainly Scales) were smothering him with affection and trying to help him up.

Ann’s memory of the past few minutes was blurry at best, but she did know that her head was positively thumping and that she had somehow managed to ward off certain disaster. The chief did not look happy in the slightest.

“May Anguis-s-swallow you whole!” Slithraa spat.

“But Your Highness-s-s, you were able to break in?” Scales asked, trailing behind his master.

“You can break her head, for all I care!” Slithraa spat as he slithered away in a huff. Scales looked after him for a quiet moment, all eyes darting back and forth between the chief and the admiral.

Then Scales cleared his throat. “We’ll keep the pris-s-soner for now. Perhaps we can use a different tactic to get in.” He glanced at Ann and she made sure to scowl back. Whatever they tried, she would do everything in her power to counter it. “Come on. Keep moving. We’re almos-s-st there.”

Ann was lifted into the air again and looked down lazily at the road. Her brain was still positively buzzing from that strange experience, and she thought about drifting off to sleep, until the troop stopped about twenty minutes later.

The sun was gone now, hidden behind thick, fluffy storm clouds which set the mood perfectly for the graveyard Ann found herself in. It was a dismal plot of land that covered only a few square yards, and judging by the yellowing grass and crumbling tombstones, it would appear as though it was abandoned. Lloyd was somewhere up ahead next to the chief and they seemed to be talking about something rather important. If only she could move closer and find out what.

As it began to rain, she watched the unlikely pair wander aimlessly about the graveyard, touching every stone, peering under every rock, and barking orders at every soldier. What on earth could they be looking for? As far as Ann was concerned, though, they could take as long as they like so that she could enjoy the clean feeling of rain water falling on her face.

Once it started getting dark, Chief Slithraa looked to be even more ill-tempered and ordered his snakes to make camp for the night. Several fires were erected under the shelter of nearby trees and the ghostly sound of the wind howling through the barren branches gave Ann shivers. Come supper time, Ann was sitting, completely tied up, around a camp fire with Cole, Scales, and a dozen of his snakes. They were all happily munching on any remaining stolen goods and some wild rabbit which they had caught. Ann watched them all sloppily shovel food into their mouths whole while they rambled on about some sort of old Serpentine fable when her stomach began to growl angrily.

A Hypnobrai turned to her and said, “Oh yeah, gotta remember to feed thes-s-se things-s-s.” Ann gave another signature glare as he shoved some day-old bread into her mouth. It was stale and dirty, but she still accepted it, awkward as it was to eat without hands. She needed to keep her strength up, even if it meant eating dirty food.

“Mmm, you’re right,” Scales agreed, and he gave Cole a few sticks of beef jerky, which the boy quickly devoured. “You know, I never realis-s-sed how much fun hypnos-s-sis-s-s would be,” he said absentmindedly. His snakes quickly agreed.

“Did you s-s-see what I made that one human do back in the village?” one snake cackled.

“He’ll feel that in the morning!” said another, and everyone started laughing.

“Shoulda made him carry us-s-s out here!” someone else snorted.

“You’d need ten humans-s-s to carry you, ya lumpy ol’ tub!”

Ann rolled her eyes as she swallowed the last, sharp pieces of her bread. She used to think that some of the conversations the boys had back home were brainless, but this was just unbearable. Not to mention sick.

“Oh, what? You giving us s-s-sass-s-s, little hum-y?” a Hypnobrai said, noticing her eye roll. Ann turned her face away and tired to disengage as more and more snakes started staring at her.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t get through to her today,” one of them said, going back to their meals. “Coulda had s-s-some good fun with her.”

“Oh yeah, she’s-s-s the water one, right?”

“S-s-stubborn little beas-s-sts-s-s, thos-s-se elemental mas-s-sters-s-s.”

“Hey, Admiral, have you had a chanc-c-ce to try out that one’s-s-s powers-s-s yet?”

Ann looked over at Cole who’s face remained emotionless. ‘Oh dear,’ she thought. ‘This can only end badly.’

“I haven’t, actually,” Scales said, a grin appearing on his scaly lips.

“Would you show us-s-s, Admiral?”

“Yeah! Pleas-s-se!”

“Show us-s-s!”

“Oh, alright,” Scales said, trying to appear nonchalant. He looked at Cole and his eyes glowed for a moment. Poor Cole was forced to get up and launch a rock across the graveyard and into the darkness. The snakes all “oohed” and “aaahed” as he lifted up a second rock and split it into many tiny pieces before launching each one.

“Ooh! Ooh! Can he juggle?” one Serpentine asked.

With another command from Scales, Cole turned toward them all and started juggling four fist-sized rocks with an amazing amount of fluidity.

“More! More! More!” They all cheered.

Scales threw another rock for Cole to juggle, then two more, and then four more, and before long, they all came tumbling down on top of him in a messy pile. He fell and tried to cover his head from the falling debris, but the Serpentine only laughed harder. If Ann could only move...

“Oh! I remember my Grandpappy telling me about this-s-s game he us-s-sed to play with em’,” someone blurted. “Truth or dare, he called it, and it’s supposed to be the most amazing game because they can’t refuse anything!”

“I’ve heard of that! Can I go first?” a younger Hypnobrai cried. “Truth or dare?”

Cole quickly responded with, “Truth!” as he sat, cross legged, still nursing some bruises from the rocks.

“What’s your most humiliating secret?”

This was completely awful! Did these snakes have any decency in them at all? Well, Ann would try to be polite and tune out whatever it is he said, for his sake.

It sounded like Cole was trying his hardest not to speak, but like with all things, it came out eventually. “I once tore my pants during a dance competition,” he said. The entire group started bursting with cackles and snorts of all kinds. “Roughly one thousand people saw my Captain Blowfish boxers.” The chortling reached a new level, and Ann could only watch miserably.

“Truth or dare?” a new Serpentine called.

“Truth!” Cole cried again.

“Hmmm... let me see... oh! I know! What’s your darkest secret?” The crowd murmured in agreement and waited anxiously.

“I... I-I pig out on cake when no one’s looking!” Cole answered.

“Cake?”

“Huh?”

“What’s he talking about?”

“Eh, next round. Truth or dare?”

“Truth!” Cole cried for the third time. Even with the mind control, Ann could tell that he was feeling more humiliated by the second.

“This is getting old! Do a dare!”

“Yeah! Dare!”

“Dare! Dare! Dare! Dare!” they all chanted.

“Oh, leave him alone!” Ann finally snapped. “You pigheaded dolts!”

All eyes turned to Ann, including Cole’s, but the attention was anything but good.

“I know!” Scales said, looking her up and down. Everyone watched the admiral, anxiously waiting for whatever their leader was about to say. “Cole,” he leaned in extra close, “kiss her.”

“What?!” Ann and Cole said together.

Everyone started chuckling up a storm at the admiral’s words, not to mention the teen’s reactions. Cole’s emotions were bleeding through so much that as he rose on shaky legs, his eyes were wide and he kept muttering nervously.

“No! Stop it!” Ann shouted at Scales. “Can’t you see he doesn’t want to?!”

Scales barked a particularly annoying laugh. “Ha! If only you knew!”

Cole inched further and further around the campfire toward Ann, while all the Serpentine chanted, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” and thumped their tails in time. Ann tried to wriggle out of her ropes, but as always, they were tied stupidly tight. She didn’t want to kiss him, and she knew he wouldn’t want to kiss her, if their interactions in the past were any indicator. She didn’t even know how to kiss! The last time she saw two people smooch was when she was twelve, spying on two of the housekeepers at the monastery who happened to be husband and wife. This couldn’t really be happening! Scales would call it off, right? Please! Please let him call it off at the last second!

Cole was just a step away now, and he slowly knelt down to be at eye-level with her.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” the Hypnobrai continued.

“You’ve had your fun! Just make him stop!” Ann cried, squirming away on the ground, but a Serpentine tail came up behind her and pushed her forward.

She felt her face wince as Cole began to lean in closer, reaching a warm, rough hand up to touch her neck, but he didn’t look to be enjoying this any more than Ann was. In fact, it looked as though his rugged jaw was locked, and his dark eyes seemed scared. Never in her life had she been this close to a boy’s face, and it was absolutely terrifying.

Right as he was about to pucker up, he gave a startling scream and launched himself upwards, locking lips with the Hypnobrai sitting next to Ann instead. After a brief moment of complete shock, they both recoiled in disgust, gagging and spitting up a storm, while everyone else doubled over with so much maniacal laughter that they were running out of breath. Ann thought that Scales might just fall off his seat he was laughing so hard, and she hoped that if he did, he’d land on a fire ant hill.

Before anyone could do or say anything else, however, something very interesting happened. When that one unfortunate Hypnobrai recoiled, he fell backwards, rolling off the log he had previously been perched upon, and as he sat, spitting in the dirt, his hand pressed down against the stone of a solitary tomb, separated from the rest. The laughter died when that tombstone began to shake and rumble, pulling away to reveal a dark hole in the ground, filled with the most rancid smell unknown to human kind.

“Who have awoken us—“

“—from our tomb?”